So How Did the 'Mama Grizzlies' Do?

Earlier this election season, CNN declared
2010 the "year of GOP women candidates." Sarah Palin's famed "mama
grizzlies" were grabbing headlines in House, Senate and gubernatorial
races from coast to coast. On Tuesday, some of them faltered and others
flourished. Was the rising tide of GOP women exaggerated? Here's
what political observers are saying:

It Was a Mixed Bag for Republican Women, writes Caroline May at The Daily Caller:

Republican
women running for governor in three states made history [last night] by
clinching victories over their Democratic opponents. South Carolina
State Rep. Nikki Haley, Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin and New Mexico
district attorney Susanna Martinez will all became the first women to
occupy their state’s chief executive office. Haley and Martinez become
the country’s first two women of color governors: Martinez will be the
country’s first Hispanic woman governor, while Haley will be the
country’s first Indian-American woman governor.

Haley Is the Ultimate 'Mama Grizzly,' writes Keli Goff at The Huffington Post:

Perhaps
no 2010 GOP candidate is more representative of the GOP's efforts to
broaden "its tent" racially speaking, than South Carolina's Niki Haley.
The telegenic Indian American who graced the cover of Newsweek
as "the face of the New South" might as well have been labeled "the
face of the new GOP" because for the next few years we are going to be
seeing her face everywhere, as Republicans attempt to position her as
the new Condi Rice; a woman of color who symbolizes the American Dream
and who the GOP hopes to turn into a symbol of their party. As the first
Asian American female Governor, and one who has already weathered a
major scandal and survived, she is one of the few Mama Grizzlies whose
roar Democrats should fear for years to come. But she's not the only
one...

Sarah Palin and Geraldine Ferraro Talk Women in Politics Fox News' Megyn Kelly hosts a
discussion with the only two women to ever run on a presidential ticket
in the U.S. At
the 5:35 point in the video below, Ferraro and Palin talk about the new generation of
Republican women and the challenges women face when running for office:

In
a year in which immigration has emerged as one of the most divisive
issues in the nation, and GOP candidates find themselves on the defense
for some of the party's more racially inflammatory language and imagery,
Susana Martinez made history by becoming the first Latina Governor in America. Did I mention she's a Republican?

Like
her GOP grizzly sister Haley, expect to see Martinez move front and
center onto the national stage as one of the new faces of the GOP, and
with New Mexico being a swing state, don't be surprised if, like another
novice female Governor two years ago, she emerges on the shortlist of
2012 GOP Vice-presidential candidates.

Everyone has someone on their holiday shopping list who’s impossible to buy for. For the second year in a row, we asked Atlantic readers to describe their someone, and brainstormed a few perfect gift ideas for them.